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RIPTA: It stands for Never On Time

So I went into work super early this morning, 06:30 hours. Which meant I was out at 2:3oPM. Managed to catch the 3:25PM commuter to Providence which got into Providence at about 4:25PM.

Then a brief walk through Waterplace park and I was at the berth for the 27/28 bus lines. Now RIPTA calls this a high frequency bus line. Only problem is, they cannot keep a schedule to save their lives. I missed the 4:30PM but the display told me next buses were at 4:40, 4:50, 5:00PM but the issue was no bus ever showed up at those times.

The displays at all the bus stops in Kennedy Plaza they blatantly lie about time to the next bus. I know they’re slinging the info over RF – I gotta sniff it with my spectrum analyzer and see what they’re using. I’ve heard they can use broadcast band sub-carrier – so I’d like to put a message on them that says “Next 27/28 bus (Never) You’re Better off Walking”

But seriously – I may gripe about the MBTA on occasion, but nowhere near the level I gripe about the Rhode Island Public Transit authority. I actually called it one the worst transit systems in the United States. Called them and said that to them. I also plan to share this post with them. I’ll properly tag it so they can scroll through all the times RIPTA has disappointed me.

Now the buses themselves are festooned with technology that tracks the position of the bus for automated announcements of certain intersections on the route. And I have to wonder if they’re not slinging that info back to HQ and then using that for the time displays but I doubt that. Because if that were the case the displays at the bus berths wouldn’t tell such blatant lies.

But I’m at the point where this is all expected behavior on the part of RIPTA. A perpetually underfunded agency because they stupidly tied their revenue to the gasoline tax, and I can tell you where that’s going to go as cars become more efficient and more electric. But that’s discussion for later on taxing you on the miles driven that I really don’t want to delve into at the moment.

But RIPTA needs to get on the ball. I can easily walk home if I choose. But sometimes it’s nice to just get the bus home as I live on what I am assured is the 2nd busiest route on RIPTA’s roster.